Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Eric
“Hey, Eric, have a good drive? Bet she handles like a dream.”
Axel nodded. “Amen to that. There’s something extra special about these mountains.” He smirked, a sparkle in his eye, “But if you really wanna enjoy them, you need to feel the wind in your face while you lean into every curve. You need to scrap the cage and get a bike, my man.”
Gasping in horror, I ran my palm over the dash again, leaning forward.
“Don’t you listen to him, 004, I’d never replace you with some chromed out donor machine.”
Axel threw his head back to laugh, the sound deep and loud. “Donor machine?”
It was my turn to smirk his way. “Yeah, it’s what most doctors call motorcycles, because of how often they create organ donors when they crash.”
But I wasn’t a surgeon anymore. Didn’t work in a busy ER where motorcycle riders who’d thought there were immune to gravity came in for me and my team to put them back together. Didn’t get to savor the rush I’d get every time I pulled off the impossible.
At first, when I’d run out of treatment options and I wasn’t getting better, I’d wallowed in my grief, believing that my life was over because I couldn’t operate anymore. I was beginning to understand what several people had been telling me all along.
I didn’t need to give up being a healer.
Also, the rush of adrenaline that had been fueling me since I’d received the call from Jacqui wasn’t so different to what I used to feel in the ER.
My injuries simply meant I needed to pivot from my original plan, not create a whole new one.
A renewed sense of purpose filled me. I knew I could help Calla, help her not fall through the cracks like so many neurodiverse girls have in the past.
Thoughts of Calla had me getting serious, pulling my thoughts from the past and back to where they needed to be: The here and now. Picking up on my change in mood, Axel moved closer.
“Figured you didn’t stop just to shoot the shit with me. What’s up?”
Nodding toward the now closed gate, I asked, “I don’t suppose you could tell me who rolled in before me?
Folding his thick arms over his chest, his eyes went cold and hard.
“An unannounced guest. I’m surprised Derek allowed them access, actually.”
Dread twisted in my gut.
“Was the guest a woman, early twenties? Name Calla Lewis.”
Now he frowned, holding my gaze with his glare.
“Yeah. She was in the car, along with another woman and two men. Man behind the wheel looked like a professional, while the guy sitting in the rear with the older woman, who I’d guess was the girl’s mom, clearly thinks he’s more important than the rest of us mere mortals.
Said his name was Councilman Jack Bosman.
Like I care what his damn job title is. When I asked him what his business was at Rawhide, he told me to tell Derek he was here to deliver his stepdaughter, Calla Lewis.
Like she was a parcel or some shit. That girl is not okay, Eric.
She was on her own in the third row of seats, pressed back into the corner furthest from her stepdaddy and rocking.
Her eyes were wide and red from crying. Wanted to pop the trunk and grab her out of there.
Damn hard to resist. Do you know them? Invite them here?
Because I don’t think Derek was real happy about their arrival. ”
Shaking my head as I winced, I pressed the button to open the gate.
“Not exactly. An old friend called me while I was out to let me know she believed Calla would be heading this way today. I rang through to Derek to let him know before I started my trek back. I’d been hoping to beat them…”
The gates were nearly open enough for me to pass, so I put 004 into gear before I looked back at the guard.
“Axel?”
“Yeah?”
“When they leave, if they still have Calla in the vehicle I’d appreciate it if you don’t open the gates until I can get here to take her. For Calla’s own safety, she needs to be away from her stepfather.”
With a nod, he dropped his arms and backed up a few steps to give me room.
“Easily done. Anyone can see that girl would be better off anywhere but where she is. The driver was a cautious type, took off slow up the drive. Dare say your little rocket here can catch them before they hit the resort.”
With a nod, I pressed my foot down on the gas and 004 roared in response, taking off up the drive a lot faster than when I’d come down it earlier.
From what Axel had said about Calla, she was already in distress and would need careful handling to get her from the vehicle and inside.
Hopefully, we wouldn’t need to pop the trunk to get her out as Axel had suggested, but it may come to that in order to get her out of the car and inside the safety of the resort.
Shifting gears quickly, the two miles between the gate and the main building had never felt so long as I rushed to catch them.
When I caught sight of the black SUV parked in front of the main entrance, I slammed my palm on the steering wheel with a curse.
Dammit, I hadn’t been fast enough. Skidding to a stop on the grass behind the big black Ford Explorer, I made sure I was far enough off the gravel that 004 wouldn’t be in anyone’s way until I had time later to deal with her.
With my instincts screaming at me, I didn’t even pause long enough to wind up the window before I was out and rushing over toward the vehicle and resort entrance.
My gaze locked on the man with his hands on his hips running his mouth a mile a minute, as he glared up at Moses and Dax who stood side by side on the bottom step, blocking access to the resort.
Moses, Derek’s right-hand man, made an imposing sight with how he was standing, ramrod straight, legs apart, arms crossed over his broad chest as he glared down at the suit in front of him.
His dark skin and darker eyes, thanks to his Native American heritage, gave his frown a sinister edge that would have any man with half a brain checking his tone.
The fact Moses was deaf and didn’t speak only added to the stoic tough-guy thing he had going on.
Mostly he used ASL to communicate, but he was also excellent at reading lips so he knew exactly what was being said to him.
Dax stood beside him mirroring his pose, making sure there was no way anyone was getting past them and up those stairs.
His cowboy hat sat low enough to hide his eyes, but the tightness in his jaw gave away his mood.
When he looked my way, his head lifted enough that I could catch his gaze.
The fire burning hot with fury gave me pause, even though I knew it wasn’t aimed my way.
He nodded toward the SUV before he returned his focus to Jack, letting me know they didn’t need my help with the councilman.
My gut clenched at what might have happened if Jacqui hadn’t given me the heads up Calla was coming and I hadn’t warned Derek of the incoming trouble.
With how much of a prick Jack was, he may have not even allowed their vehicle onto the property.
Dax and Moses certainly wouldn’t have known how important it was that Calla stay.
A man I didn’t recognize so assumed to be their driver, stood beside the front of the Explorer, his gaze scanning the area.
The hard look in his eyes as he took in everything going on had a shiver running down my spine, reminding me of Elita’s men.
Her soldiers. This man was more than simply a driver and bore watching closely.
As I approached the open rear door, he smoothly stepped between me and the vehicle, his stance that of a vigilant alpha male ready to defend.
“Whoa, stop right there. Who are you and what do you want?”
Between his current protective attitude and how he’d reached out to Jacqui to get Calla help, I figured he was more concerned about Calla’s wellbeing than his boss’s orders. If I’d clocked the man correctly, brutal honesty was what would get me past him the fastest.
“My name is Dr. Eric Maestro. I work here at Rawhide Ranch. I’m also a friend of Dr. Jacqueline Stringer from Pieces to Peace. She called me earlier to let me know Calla was on her way and would need me.”
The man’s frown deepened. “He’s been threatening this place on her for months, you part of the research facility? You the one who’s planning on turning her into a lab rat? Thought better of Dr. Stringer than to be tangled up in that type of shit.”
Jacqui’s questions about what really happened at Rawhide came back to me. Clearly the not-so-good councilman Bosman had heard “research” and his twisted imagination had drawn some pretty nasty assumptions.
“While there is a research facility here, and I do work there, it’s not the kind that does the type of experiments that involve cages, cruelty and scars.
Everything that happens at Rawhide Ranch is about protection, safety and consent.
We research ways that neurodiverse people can live their best lives.
Our focus is on helping people. There are no lab rats in any way, shape or form at Rawhide.
Never have been, never will be. There’s no way Derek, the owner, would allow it, and I sure as hell wouldn’t be here if he did.
Now, are you going to let me help Calla or not? ”
He stared at me for a few moments before, with a firm nod, he moved out of the way, revealing the interior of the car.
As soon as I caught sight of what was happening, I rubbed my chest with a wince.
That poor girl. Calla was deep in the grip of an autistic meltdown.
Tears tracked down her red face as she thrashed around the rear row of seats that held her captive while her mother, who was in the middle row was facing her daughter and trying to placate her without any success.
Clearly no one had given her mother any sort of advice or training on how to deal with a meltdown.
My heart broke for both of them as each time Calla’s mother reached out to her daughter, Calla would flap her hands violently and knock her away.
Rubbing a palm over the back of my neck, my frustration grew.
With how deep into this meltdown Calla was, I knew it was too late to do anything that might limit the duration or intensity.
Prevention really was the best treatment for meltdowns in autistics.
This would be a case of waiting until the storm passed, but that couldn’t happen here in the car.
I needed to get her inside where she’d be safe before her stepfather tried to do something stupid to deal with her.
My instincts screamed that he’d caused this girl harm before and wouldn’t hesitate to do so again.
Mental images of him dragging her kicking and thrashing from the car and dumping her onto the gravel had me clenching my jaw, grinding my teeth.
Thanks to the bullshit he’d been filling her mind with, gaining any sort of trust from her was going to be difficult.
She needed something familiar, something she associated with safety to ground her enough that I could get her from the car to inside the resort’s lobby.
Frowning as I ran over options, I settled my hands on my hips.
The moment my fingers brushed over my phone in my pocket an idea flared to life.